1. Field of the Disclosure
The following is directed to bonded abrasive tools, and in particular, bonded abrasive tools incorporating an organic bond material and having a particular microstructure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Abrasives used in machining applications typically include bonded abrasive articles and coated abrasive articles. Coated abrasive articles generally include a layered article including a backing and an adhesive coat to fix abrasive grains to the backing, the most common example of which is sandpaper. Bonded abrasive tools consist of rigid, and typically monolithic, three-dimensional, abrasive composites in the form of wheels, discs, segments, mounted points, hones and other tool shapes, which can be mounted onto a machining apparatus, such as a grinding or polishing apparatus. Such bonded abrasive tools usually have three phases including abrasive grains, bond material, and porosity, and can be manufactured in a variety of ‘grades’ and ‘structures’ that have been defined according to practice in the art by the relative hardness and density of the abrasive composite (grade) and by the volume percentage of abrasive grain and bond within the composite (structure).
Bonded abrasive tools are particularly useful in grinding and polishing various materials including single crystal materials, ceramic surfaces, and metals or metal alloys. In particular instances, bonded abrasive tools having organic bond materials, such as a resinous bond material, are used for grinding metal surfaces. However, grinding and polishing of such materials can be an aggressive process resulting in significant wear on the bonded abrasive tool, thus limiting the lifetime of the tool. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for methods and articles for effective grinding and polishing of materials.